Molecular genetics of pathogenic fungi: some recent developments and perspectives

Abstract

The diagnosis and the treatment of fungal diseases remains problematic in many cases. Difficulties in diagnosis are due (1) to the ubiquitous presence of fungal pathogens that may lead to false positive test results and (2) to difficulties in the evaluation of the aetiological significance of these pathogens. The relatively small number of effective antifungal agents reflects to a large extent on the fact that many aspects of fungal physiology and virulence are not well understood. The methods of molecular genetics provide effective tools for the diagnosis of mycoses and may also contribute to the identification of new targets for antifungals by genetic analyses of fungal virulence. During the last 3 years molecular genetic methods have been developed for the asexual pathogen Candida albicans that may be used for strain identification. This success indicates a general use of molecular genetics for the analysis of fungal pathogenesis.

Yeasts

“…Yeasts have also been frequently found on insects, providing a means for their distribution. Only a few opportunistic yeast pathogens of humans (Cundidu, Cryptococcus) are known (ERNST, 1989).…”

Use of polymorphic short and clustered coding-region microsatellites to distinguish strains ofCandida albicans

“…Several electrophoretic methods, morphotyping, serotyping, antibiogram, resistogram typing, biotyping, sensitivity to yeast killer toxins, and typing based on protein variability have all been used [3,4]. In general, molecular markers such as RFLP's, RAPDs and DNA and PCR fingerprinting provide the most discriminatory power [5,6]. Such techniques assay a wide range of nuclear polymorphisms using relatively simple procedures [7-91. organism.…”